


Peer Pressure

by KagSesshlove



Series: Grade School [4]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Gen, Is Jason the best or worse at giving press conferences, They all have issues, a plot device, and dick wants hugs, and more a way to bring Jay back, batbros, batfam, for real, i'm asahmed, it's a filler, this is less peer pressure, unanswerable questions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-26
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-05-29 03:20:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6356866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KagSesshlove/pseuds/KagSesshlove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Imagine that Damian goes to a regular school full time. And has to do things that normal grade-schoolers have to do. Like deal with peer pressure and the resulting consequences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Peer Pressure

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own anything.
> 
> Warnings: Contains the most precious individual in the world. Also, underage smoking. And bad metaphors…?
> 
> Note: A nod to PDI who reviewed and helped me cover up that plot-hole regarding Damian actually participating in P.E. Thanks!

Damian was not pleased.

It was the first Friday after his suspension, and he’d expected to go into gym class, apologize to Carmichael – as Father, Grayson, and Pennyworth had urged him to do – and then participate in the lesson.

His apology had been accepted, if a bit warily, but he had been forbidden from participating.

(“Thank you for the apology, but… you’re not allowed to take part in P.E., Damian.”

“What nonsense are you spouting now, Carmichael?”

“… There’s a note from your doctor. You have… severe exercise induced asthma. You won’t be taking part in class for the whole year.)

Damian snorted thinking about it.  

( _Even Carmichael had sounded disbelieving – likely taking note of my physical fitness.)_

He had called his father right after gym – where he had been forced to sit and watch his incapable contemporaries try and fail to run laps – and been told that it was a precaution that they’d forgotten to take the first week.

He understood that if he took part in the class he would likely reveal his exceptional abilities. And that that needed to be avoided.

It didn’t mean he had to like it.

He wondered who had been behind that excuse though. It could easily have been Drake and Todd trying to humiliate him, or it could have been Grayson, naively thinking that it was actually a good idea.

( _Whatever._ )

Damian scowled as he walked out of the cafeteria. He didn’t feel like eating in there; he’d just stand outside.

( _Of course_. _I can’t escape them anywhere_.)

Instead of the solitude he’d been anticipating, there were a number of students gathered in a circle right outside the door. His scowl deepened automatically.

They were smoking. How was he supposed to eat if they were smoking?

Also, they were breaking the law. Was he supposed to let that go? Even if he wasn’t in uniform, he was still Robin; could he afford to allow them to get away with this? Would it make him equally as guilty?

He was tempted to confront them, but Grayson had explicitly stated that he was supposed to avoid any trouble.

He was fairly sure this constituted as trouble.

The choice, however, was taken out of his hands.

“Hey,” one of the said, catching sight of him and stepping forward. “Do you want one?”

They turned to face him, and the one who spoke held out a lighter and a pack of cigarettes. Damian sneered.

“No. Not only is it illegal, it’s disgusting.”

They shifted slightly, obviously uncomfortable. But, for some reason, their leader refused to give up.

“Come on, it’s cool.”

“You sound like Todd, though not even he is so crass as to try and convince a minor to smoke,” Damian replied, frowning.

“Who’s Todd?

“My _brother_ ,” Damian sneered. “That’s not the point. If you continue to attempt to pressure me into joining you in this-“

“Brother?”

Damian gritted his teeth; he hated being interrupted. “Yes. As I was-“

“But, I thought you only had two brothers: Richard Grayson and Timothy Drake.”

Damian blinked. Once, then twice.

He cursed under his breath.

( _I need to distract them_.)

Damian shot his hand out and flicked the cigarette from the lips of the boy in front of him. He grabbed the lighter and the box of cigarettes, holding them up to draw attention. Anything to stop them from remembering that he had mentioned having a brother who didn’t exist anymore.

Damian sneered at them, tilting his chin upwards. “You’re all pathetic. Disgraceful.” Damian altered his voice. “‘Come on, it’s cool’. You all-“

“What is going on out here?”

Damian turned around and stifled another curse.

Teachers had the worst timing.

* * *

 

Damian crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair, staring at the Headmistress.

“Damian, I’m told that you were trying to pressure your peers into smoking.”

He glared. “Who said that?”

She let out a sigh. “Mrs. Peters, the teacher who caught you. Also, your fellow students, who said that you told them you and your brother Todd smoked so they should try it too.”

Damian snarled silently, earning a raised eyebrow, which he ignored.

( _Nothing goes my way_.)

“Do you have anything to say?”

“They’re lying; they attempted to coerce me into smoking. I declined. The only reason I was holding the lighter and cigarettes was to mock them!”

She looked at him, unimpressed. “I’ve called your father. He’s sending your family butler to pick you up. You haven’t been suspended, but this is a serious infraction, Damian. Don’t do it again.”

“I didn’t do it to begin with! It was those plebeian i-“

“Please wait in the front office, Damian.”

Damian growled and stood up from his chair, stomping out of the office without a backwards glance. He dropped into the chair outside of the Headmistress’s office, glaring at the secretary when she looked at him.

He barely refrained from sighing as he pulled out his phone. He scowled as he dialed his brother’s number.

“Damian? You’re calling me? Why?”

The sigh escaped him against his will. “Todd. I’d rather not be on the phone with you, but there may be a problem.”

“A problem? What sort of problem are you calling me for? Why not Dickiebird? Or B?”

“You’re still legally dead, correct?”

“…”

“Todd!”

“Yeah, kid. I’m still legally dead,” he responded warily. “Why?”

Damian paused.

( _Maybe it won’t actually be a problem. Todd himself said that I’m overly paranoid.)_

“Never mind,” Damian replied before hanging up.

He put his phone on silent when his brother called him. He wasn’t going to worry about it.

* * *

 

Jason poked his head into Tim’s room curiously – and there he was.

( _Don’t know why I didn’t check here first.)_

“Yo, Timmy.”

Tim turned to him, and Jason took a minute to note the delayed reaction time.

“Jay?”

“Okay, we’ve got to deal with your inability to take care of yourself. But later. Do you know what’s up with Babybat?”

Tim blinked, turning back to his work. “Demon? Why don’t you ask him?”

Jason shot a look at the back of his head, but Tim seemed to feel it.

“Right. It’s Demon. Uh... well, he got sent home today for trying to pressure other students into smoking.”

Jason scoffed. “Smoking? Damian?”

“Yeah. He hasn’t mentioned why he felt the need to flick a cigarette out of another student’s mouth and steal the pack of cigarettes and lighter, but at least we know he’s not actually at fault this time. Mostly.”

“Right… So… no idea why he called me and asked if I was still considered legally dead?”

Tim turned back to him, gaping in surprise. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. It was weird, and then he just hung up and didn’t answer any of my calls. Slipped into the Cave to train when I tried to ask him.”

“… No. No idea. Did you ask Dick?”

“Yeah, he’s got no idea either.”

“And you thought I would?”

“Hey! He called me today; if he’s going to do out of character things…”

Tim nodded and then shook his head. “No clue. But, whatever it is, I bet it’s going to end up being a disaster.”

“That’s pretty much a given, Babybird.”

“It’s probably going to be hilarious, though.”

Jason snorted and grinned. “Putting him in school was literally the best idea B has ever had.”

“Oh, absolutely.”

* * *

 

Damian scowled as a group of his classmates approached him nervously. Not only did he not want to talk to them, they were drawing out the process with their inability to face him.

( _Cowards._ )

“What?” he spat.

They flinched slightly, before one of them stepped forward.

“Pendleton,” Damian greeted coolly.

“Damian. We just… wanted to know if it was true.”

“If what was true?”

“If you really have another brother.”

Damian stared at him blankly.

( _Paranoia. Right. I’m never listening to Todd again. …I probably should have warned Father_.)

“Where did you hear that ridiculous rumor?”

“Um… Well, Kyle said that when you tried to convince him to smoke-“

“That never happened,” Damian snarled, narrowing his eyes and causing Pendleton to step back.

“R-right. But- he just- he said that you said that you had another brother named Todd- probably his last name, right? But you don’t have another brother, but a few people talked to their parents after Kyle mentioned it and they said that your dad used to have another son named Jason Todd but that he died before you came so it doesn’t make sense that you would talk to him or anything so we were just wondering-“

“Shut up, Pendleton.”

The other student complied, but remained where he was, obviously waiting for an answer.

Damian cursed mentally in every language he knew. Why were things like this always happening to him? He wondered if he were cursed…

No, he couldn’t be. They hadn’t run into any magicians in ages.

“This Kyle-character is making up lies about me. It’s not surprising, considering he lied about the cigarettes.”

“But how would he even know about Jason unless you mentioned him?”

Damian gritted his teeth. “How should I know? Perhaps he stalks my family and was so interested in us that he dug into our history and used it thinking it would make his lie seem more realistic. I don’t know what goes through the minds of idiots, Pendleton. Are you done?”

Damian stared him down until he received a nod.

( _Good. Crisis averted_.)

* * *

 

Dick nearly spat out his coffee when he saw the news; it was only years of training and the desire to avoid Alfred’s reprimand that forced him to swallow the scalding liquid.

He coughed, taking a breath after he had regained his bearings. Then he rewound the channel and paused.

“Jay! Bruce! Alfie! Tim! Cass! Come down here; you need to see this! It’s an emergency!”

They all entered into the kitchen slowly, not seeming to heed his words.

( _Seriously, I’m not that dramatic_.)

Jason entered last, making Dick roll his eyes.

“Thank you for the urgency,” he drawled. “Especially since it involves you.”

“Me? What about me?”

Dick pushed play on the television.

“ _And, in other news, is one of Gotham’s Wealthiest back from the dead? Jason Todd, the second adopted son of Bruce Wayne, died years ago in a tragic accident. However, anonymous sources have surfaced saying that he is, in fact, alive. Many people are wondering if perhaps Jason Todd was never dead to begin with. Did he fake his death? Or is this all unfounded speculation? As you know, Mr. Wayne and his family are exceptional at avoiding paparazzi, and we have been unable to formally reach Mr. Wayne for comment. But we won’t give up on getting to the bottom of this; we’ll keep you updated. Now, back to you Jeff_.”

Dick put television on mute and turned to his family. Their reactions were pretty much what he had expected.

Alfred looked mildly surprised, which was the utmost shock on his face. Cass’s mouth was hanging open slightly, her eyes widened. Bruce and Tim were gaping silently at the television. Jason was-

Jason was pulling out his cellphone and furiously pressing buttons.

( _Okay. I didn’t expect that. Who’s he calling?_ )

“How in the world did they get a hold of this?” Bruce rumbled.

“Have you talked to your secretary?” Tim asked.

“Not about this; I never have her pass on messages from the news station unless I specifically ask. But I wasn’t anticipating this.”

“Come on, answer, you brat!”

Everyone turned to Jason, who was glaring into space as he waited for his call to go through.

“Jay?” Dick asked curiously.

“Wait,” Tim said, choking on nothing. “You don’t think-“

“What else could it be?” Jason drawled before hanging up his phone with a growl and dialing again.

“What is it?” Cass asked, looking between them.

“Damian,” they said simultaneously.

And that was all it took really. No one else knew exactly what it was they were referring to, but it wasn’t hard to guess that something had happened with Damian at school that had led to this.

“How does this stuff even happen to him?” Dick asked, throwing his hands up in the air exasperatedly.

“Karma,” Jason muttered.

“Doesn’t that mean you did something to deserve this too?” Tim questioned wryly.

“What did Damian do?”

Jason turned to Bruce, hanging up his phone again. “The little brat called me last Friday and asked if I was still legally dead before hanging up the phone on me and refusing to answer any other questions about it – even when he came home. I let it drop because I figured nothing could actually happen-“

“I told you this was going to be a disaster. I told you – didn’t you agree?”

“Oh, come on, Timmy. A disaster is Damian deciding he wants to break into the police records and change the cause of my death to something humiliating. This? This is…”

“Yeah,” Tim muttered. “This is something else. I don’t think I’ll ever understand how he manages to outdo himself every time.”

Bruce let out a heavy sigh. “Damian…”

“Come now, you’re all treating this as though it were the end of the world,” Alfred said calmly.

“Isn’t it?” Dick asked, taking a sip from his coffee.

He had officially given up on hoping that they could go two full weeks without some sort of incident.

“Hardly,” Alfred replied. “This may be a blessing in disguise.”

“How so?” Bruce inquired, turning to Alfred.

“Perhaps, letting the world think Master Jason simply faked his death may be good for him. It would certainly allow for more freedom,” Alfred proposed as he left the room, going back to his dusting.

Everyone stared after him, in shock.

( _Why didn’t I think of that?)_

“That’s a good idea,” Cass said, nodding in agreement and following Alfred out of the room.

“How are they so calm about this?” Tim grumbled. “That’s a terrible idea.”

“Maybe not!” Dick said, grinning. “Think about it, you guys. Jason doesn’t have to hide anymore, and he can get all of the benefits of being an actual, living citizen.”

“What, like having to come to Wayne functions, being hounded by the paparazzi, paying taxes?”

“That’s too much sarcasm, Babybird. Have you had your coffee this morning?”

“Not enough.”

“Whoa, woah, woah! You’re not seriously considering giving the media a statement saying that I faked my death and suddenly decided to come back, are you?”

Dick turned to Jason, but his little brother was looking at Bruce, who had been strangely silent for the past few minutes. Dick leaned forward curiously, wondering what Bruce was thinking.

Tim cocked an eyebrow. “Well, there’s no harm in having _another_ heir, is there?”

“Seriously?” Jason exclaimed, turning to Tim. “For real? You were just talking about what a bad idea this was.”

Tim lifted up his newly obtained mug. “I hadn’t had my fourth cup of coffee yet. I’m seeing things in a different light now.”

Dick stared at Tim. “That is the least healthy thing you’ve said in… two days. When you mentioned you hadn’t slept in 78 hours.”

“One day,” Jason corrected. “Last night he mentioned that he’d run out of energy drinks to mix with his coffee.”

“Oh my gosh, Tim!”

“What?” he muttered defensively. “You act like we’re healthy people.”

“That’s… okay. That’s a fair point. But still. Back me up here, Jay.”

“Yeah, I have to agree with Dickiebird on this one, Timmy. And you know how much I hate to do that.”

Dick frowned at him, but his rebuttal was cut off when Bruce finally spoke.

“What do you think, Jason?”

They all turned to Bruce, who was staring at Jason critically.

“What?”

“Do you want to do this?”

“What, you’re going to let _me_ decide?”

“Yes. It’s your life. Or, it could be.”

Jason gaped; Dick shared a look with Tim.

“Well, son?”

Jason blinked. “Uh… yeah. Yeah, sure. Why not? I guess. I mean… Demonbrat already put in most of the work. No reason to waste all that effort.”

And Dick grinned. Because Jason was only being half-sarcastic. And because this was actually happening. And all it took was Damian going to school.

( _I don’t know if we should thank him or give him another lesson on hiding information_.)

“Group hug!”

“I’m late for work, but I’ll set up a press conference.”

“I have to finish looking through my files.”

“No.”

* * *

 

“Damian, come here.”

Those were the first words Damian heard when he arrived home, and it did nothing for his mood. He didn’t even know what he could have done; he hadn’t even been called to the office.

He followed his father in moody silence until they arrived in one of the family rooms where everyone was sitting.

He crossed his arms, scowling. “Whatever it is, I didn’t do it.”

“Actually, you did.”

“Shut up, Drake!” He glared at the smug smirk on Drake’s face. “… What is it this time?”

Grayson snickered.

“What are you laughing about? You were thinking the same thing this morning.”

“Yeah, but I can appreciate it when it’s not me, Jay. Isn’t that how this goes?”

“Damian, what happened when you got sent home on Friday?”

Damian turned to his father, frowning. “I told you.”

“Yes. But did you leave out anything? Something about Jason, maybe?”

Damian scowled, shooting a glare at Todd.

( _Of course he couldn’t keep his mouth shut._ )

“I may have… mentioned Todd in passing during the confrontation.”

“In what context?”

Damian sniffed. “I simply compared them to Todd, seeing as he is the only individual I know that smokes.”

His father leaned forward slightly. “Did any of them take note of that?”

He cleared his throat. “Briefly. Which is why I grabbed the cigarettes and lighter – I was trying to distract them.”

“Did it work?”

Damian ran his eyes over the rest of them, wondering what was going on. Grayson looked pleased and amused. Drake was exasperated but… also amused. The same with Todd and Cain. Pennyworth wasn’t giving anything away; neither was his father – though he didn’t seem particularly stern.

What was he missing?

Damian shook his head slowly. “No, unfortunately. But I dealt with the situation.”

“Oh?”

“A group of my classmates approached me today, asking about Todd and mentioning that a surprisingly large number of other students had taken the inquiries to their parents. Gossiping idiots,” he muttered. “But I told them that there was nothing substantial in regards to the situation, and Pendleton seemed to believe me.”

Now his father was smirking slightly.

( _What?_ )

“I know that I was careless, but I thought I handled the situation. I called Todd that day because I had worried, but then I recalled that Todd himself had said I was overly paranoid, so I didn’t think it would matter.”

Drake snorted. “So, basically, this is your fault.”

“No!” Todd exclaimed, grinning. “It’s the brat’s fault for listening to me. He never does that; how was I supposed to know he would take it to heart?”

“Of course he would, Jaybird! You’re his older brother; he even talks about you at school.”

Cain hummed in agreement.

“What… is going on?”

His father huffed. “Because you mentioned that, and people are unfailingly nosy, there’s a story circulating that perhaps Jason is in fact alive. And he’s decided that he’ll take advantage of this. We’re going to be holding a press conference this weekend, revealing that Jason faked his death, but has finally decided to come back.”

Damian gaped. “So… I’m not in trouble.”

“No, Damian. In fact, Jason would like to thank you. Though, we’d all appreciate it if you refrained from mentioning any other sensitive information while at school.”

He blinked at his father’s wry tone, turning to Todd curiously. His brother stood up, walking over to him. Damian took a step back.

“It’s fine. It wasn’t intentional, so I don’t require thanks. I’ll take your words into account father, and watch what I say more carefully.”

Todd grinned. “Oh, come on, baby brother, don’t be like that. I’m grateful.”

Damian took another step back, peering around Todd, only to find that the rest of his family was smiling – and laughing in Drake and Grayson’s cases.

“Todd, cease your approach at once.”

“No can do, Babybat,” he said, throwing his arms open. “I think you deserve a hug.”

“I’m warning you, Todd! I’m armed!”

“Dami, we talked about this!”

“You said not to get caught, Grayson!”

“I told you that was bad advice.”

“Tim. Not helping.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Nothing, B!”

Damian leapt backwards as Todd jumped towards him, only just managing to avoid the attack. He pivoted on his heel, preparing to run, but was caught almost immediately.

He shouted in protest. “Let me go, Todd! Cease this indignity at once! I will destroy you before you make it to your press conference!”

Todd only cackled, hitching Damian closer to him with one arm and rubbing his knuckles against the younger’s scalp with his other hand.

“Aww!”

“Don’t you dare take a picture of this, Grayson!”

“I will take it.”

“Cain!”

“This family just gets more and more ridiculous.”

“Indeed, Master, Timothy. Have you had lunch today?”

“Uh… I plead the fifth?”

“LET ME GO, TODD!!!”

“This is your own fault, you brat! Take your hug like a man!”

“Can I hold you to that, Little Wing?”

“Shut up, Dick!”

( _These people are insane_.)

* * *

 

“Hello everyone, thank you for coming. I know it may come as a shock, but my second son, Jason Todd, thought to have died, is actually alive. He’s here, willing to speak with you all; Jason?”

Jason cleared his throat, stepping forward. There was a cacophony of voices, but Jason ignored it, leaning into the microphone.

“Yo,” he said, waiting for the noise to die down. “I’m Jason. I faked my death.”

Jason ignored the very obvious groans coming from his brothers who were standing off to the side. Moral support, they said. Dick and Tim were probably only here to make fun of him. Damian had been forced.

( _Thank God, for Cass_.)

Not that he was nervous.

“Questions? How about you?”

“Jason, why did you fake your death?”

He blinked. “Good question. Good question. Um… I faked my death because… I had a dream. A vision. I’d discovered my life’s purpose.”

“Someone make him stop,” Tim muttered.

“I wanted to help people. To save them. From themselves, and from other people. To do that, I first had to take a trek to find myself. In the desert.”

“Oh my-“

“So I left. It was like chasing a vision of my long dead mother – God rest her soul.”

“Is he serious?”

“Shut up, Tim!” Jason shouted. He cleared his throat, turning back to the crowd of reporters. “In the desert, I had a hallucination. There was clown. And a crowbar. And that’s when I understood: in order to truly help others, I had to pretend to die. It’s like, the clown represented the darkness inside of me, which was preventing me from helping people, so I had to take the crowbar and beat it to death before I could truly fulfill my dream.”

Jason was pretty sure he heard a whimper coming from behind him.

“So, I did – or, you know, it beat me to death. Fake death. And then, I called Bruce and had him help me arrange everything, so that I could be free to pursue my dream. I went through a lot of self-discovery. It was as though I had been buried underground and forced to claw my way to the surface from under the dirt. And when I broke through, I still couldn’t really see what was going on. But, soon, I received an enlightening, like being dumped in a pit of glowing liquid.”

“He’s your son, Bruce. He’s yours,” Dick whispered.

Jason grinned. “After that, I still had to come to terms with how exactly I would reach that dream. See, in order to help others, I decided that I had to become what was hurting them – to understand it. So I faced my demons and embraced them, realizing that it was the only way I could ever truly make the world a better place. Of course, then, I got beat with a crowbar again. Though… the chronology on that might be a bit messed up.”

“He’s not even using metaphors anymore,” Tim hissed.

“There was a lot of violence – metaphysical violence. Wrestling with ideology and guns and replacements and vicious baby assassins – which were the embodiments of my own fear of inadequacy and… fear of sharp objects. Which I needed to get over because how could I help people if I needed to give someone stitches, but was afraid of needles? …Where was I going with this?”

“This press conference was your idea, Bruce,” Dick murmured.

“Blame Damian.”

“I refuse to be culpable for this.”

Jason stifled his laughter and pasted on a serious face; for some reason, the crowd was eating this up.

“Yeah. So, that’s the story. I faked my death to… achieve my dreams of helping people. Any questions? Okay, you.”

“Why did you have to leave to help people?”

“Bruce wasn’t supportive. He was trying to hold me back; you know? ‘No, Jason, you can’t chase your long dead mother’s ghost – God rest her soul – into the desert. You can’t help people. Or mess with clowns.’ So, I just couldn’t let him keep me down, you know?”

“Jason, stop.”

“How about you next?”

“Why didn’t you just run away? Why did you call him and have him help you fake your death? How did you convince him?”

“I couldn’t be a coward; you know? I couldn’t just run. Uh… I um… told him that I’d never forgive him if he didn’t help me. He was already holding me back so much, that, I guess, the guilt was too much. He realized that he had to help me do this at least, if he wouldn’t support me. You?”

“What made you decide to come back?”

“…Family? Yep. Family. Uh… I heard I had two little brothers, so I couldn’t just ignore them. It was all well and good to help others, but if I didn’t help my own non-flesh and blood, then what sort of person was I? I already failed my long dead mother – God rest her soul – so I couldn’t fail them. And being with them showed me that I need to come back into the public because… it’s like peer pressure. Sometimes, you just have to give in to people who are trying to force you to do things you don’t want to do. Like smoking. Because if you give in there, then maybe it won’t escalate and reveal all of your secrets. Or you deal with it right there. But effectively.”

( _Demonbrat is going to stab me._ )

“I’m going to kill him.”

“I will actually help you.”

“What is he even saying?”

“Anyone else? How about you in the middle?”

“Did you ever actually help anyone?”

“…Yeah. I helped a lot of people. It was like… I helped them, but they never knew. Because they looked at me and saw a mask – and they painted me like I was a criminal for some reason – like a drug lord, or something. And a lot of people didn’t really appreciate how insistent I was when it came to helping people. But I did it anyway. And, you know, no kids were ever hurt, so that’s a win.”

“Can you disown him, Father?”

“So there you have it. That’s my story. Thank you all for coming. No further questions.”

Jason waved casually to the clamoring crowd before turning and walking off the stage, letting Bruce wrap things up with the reporters. His siblings followed him, and he did his best not to grin.

( _Who am I kidding, this is hilarious!)_

“So…I think that went well.”

“It was very symbolic,” Cass commented.

Jason snorted. His sister was the best.

“No, that’s going to blow up in our faces. And then I’m going to have to work with Babs and try and suppress the media and rumors that you were really in a mental health institution the whole time – because that is the only logical conclusion anyone could draw from your ramblings. Actually, I’m surprised you didn’t mention Arkham.”

“Oh, can I go back up there real quick?”

“I need a vacation,” Tim muttered.

“Can I join you?” Dick asked, not even looking at Jason.

His youngest brother glared, but that wasn’t anything new. “That was terrible, Todd. In fact, it somehow managed to be worse than what I was expecting.”

“Glad I could exceed your expectations, Babybat. Thanks again.”

“Tt.”

 


End file.
